Making Things Spontaneously Combust

Courtesy Color Revolt

Band members of Colour Revolt, including Jesse Coppenbarger (center), are on tour.

by Candace Parker
June 23, 2008

If one thing is to be said for Mississippi rock outfit Colour Revolt, it’s that they’re a band on the rise. As Jackson Academy students, friends formed the band Fletcher, and changed their name to Colour Revolt as they became Ole Miss students. From their 2006 EP to their first full-length album, “Plunder, Beg, and Curse,” they’ve been tirelessly hitting the tour circuit and winning over audiences with their gritty brand of Southern indie rock. Not to mention, they’ve been garnering tons of critical acclaim—from magazines like Paste and Spin—and touring with some major bands, like New Found Glory, to top it off. Lead vocalist/guitarist Jesse Coppenbarger took time out while touring in May to talk about it all, from getting robbed, to getting big, and everything else in between.

Over the past couple of years or so, you’ve seen a huge change in venue sizes, tour mates, etc. Do you feel like you’ve learned a lot from all these new experiences?
Absolutely. We’ve learned a lot from the people we’ve toured with and have made a lot of friends along the way. In order just to survive on the road, you have to learn how to go about doing certain things—like waiting. It’s definitely not easy either, road life. People think you’re just partying all the time and stuff, but it’s mainly just getting from point A to B on time. That’s key.

Last year your van was stolen in Dallas en route to Austin City Limits. Has everything been recovered or replaced since then? What did you guys learn from that?
There was a special detective, Det. Walker, assigned to the case who found a lot of our stuff in pawnshops. We had to buy it back from them, which is lame, but we were just happy to get our stuff back. Also, we had a lot of donations from people all over the country, which was very humbling and surprising.

Also, our parents were very helpful and supportive throughout the entire fiasco. What we learned was to keep your doors locked—not that our doors were unlocked—and to invest in a club. They’re effective mostly as a visual deterrent but (it) also tells the robber, “We mean business.”

How do the crowds you encounter on tour compare to the ones back home?
We usually seem to have a pretty positive reception, but there have definitely been crowds, like with opening gigs, that haven’t been too pleased with us.

Like some guy yelled, “GET OFF THE STAGE, HIPPIES!” in Pennsylvania one time. It was pretty shocking for me since I’m not a hippie.

I personally prefer smaller shows a lot of times because the energy just transfers in such a huge way and people are forced to kind of be sweaty and “in it.” Crowds have been surprisingly good in a few cities on this tour. We sold out our show in New York City and got pretty close in Chicago. We’ve had good crowds in Hoboken, D.C., Houston, and Baton Rouge is always great for us. The crowds in Oxford are just a bit more drunk, I think, than on tour, which I favor.

Lyrically, your music is so raw and dark. What inspires you when it comes to lyrics?
I like really visual things a lot of times in lyrics. I’m still learning the “story” lyrics, but I’m just not comfortable with it, yet. I also think a lot of times while singing lyrics, that it’s too pretty or simple, and (I) try to mess it up some. I think that’s important to get the listeners’ attention and to add a weird signature to rhythm.

How does the songwriting process work for you guys?
Most of the songs start as jams, and then after months of revising and arguing, it becomes a song. But every now and then, things are a little easier and more rote coming into it, and we can just expand on what the song is already offering.

How do you think your sound has changed since the release of the Colour Revolt EP?
This one is a little louder, a little more rhythmic and a little more focused on melodies. We wanted it to be a strong representation of what we sounded like live, so we tracked it live in a great studio with a great engineer, Clay Jones.

What is the inspiration behind the new album title?
Well, “plunder” is basically to take, “beg” is to ask and “curse” is a negative response. It was a line from the song, “Moses of the South,” that we thought applied to the album as a whole. Hyper-negative and loud is kinda our style right now. Some people aren’t fans, but we don’t care about them. We care about pummeling people in the face with sound, giving people nose bleeds without touching them, making things spontaneously combust.

What are some of your favorite songs from the new record?
I like “Moses of the South” and “See It” a lot. And “Ageless Everytime” has gotten better because we’ve gotten tighter and tighter over the past six weeks of tour.

Did you all ever find it difficult to be full-time students and still be 100 percent dedicated to your musical endeavors?
Of course there were times when it was difficult, but nothing worthwhile is ever easy. If it were, everyone would do it, and it wouldn’t be worthwhile anymore. We tried to be as focused as possible, though, and get through college without breaking up.

Do you all still do most things together even when you’re not working on music?
We still do a lot of things together even when we get off tour, which is frustrating because it’s just a reminder that you don’t have any friends.

What is your most memorable accomplishment so far?
Playing with The Breeders was definitely the biggest thing we’ve been apart of so far. We also met Johnny Marr one time, and he said he liked our band.

That was crazy. I really just want to make interesting and challenging music and be able to have enough money to live on. I’m not really a big spenda.

You guys have been on satellite radio, and featured in countless magazines. How is your growing popularity in the media make you feel?
Well, I don’t have satellite radio, and I don’t read reviews anymore because most of the time they’re stupid. Even if they’re good reviews, I usually disagree with what they’re saying, think they’re a bad writer, or something like that.

Then I just get frustrated, and there’s no point to it. But yeah, I’m glad that people feel like they should put us on the radio or in their magazine. That’s cool of them.

 
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